Foreign football fans touring Crimea, says local lawmaker

Simferpol (Russia), June 19: Foreign football fans, who have come to Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, are travelling to Crimea by groups on guided tours, the Crimean parliament's tourism committee chief Alexey Chernyak has said.

"Foreign football fans are choosing Crimea for excursions. I bumped into a group of Brazilians at the airport yesterday. The Swedes had been there before. Many are coming to Sochi, and because the match finished, the fans have a couple of free days and they chose to discover Crimea," Chernyak told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"As the Brazilians said yesterday, they wanted to see what on Earth was this Crimea that made the entire world go upside down," he added.

Chernyak said that tourists appreciate the high level of service and comfort in Crimea.

In May, Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said that football fans were welcome to visit the Black Sea peninsula.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14 and will continue until July 15, with the matches set to be played in 11 cities across Russia.